In home networks, in particular power line communication (PLC) networks, such as those according to the HomeGrid standard, the HomePlug standard, or the G.hn family of Recommendations developed by the ITU-T (see ITU-T Rec. G.9961), it is known to extend the range of communication between network segments by means of repeaters or relays. Such relays typically amplify and repeat received signals.
This architecture has limited scalability and does not allow for true bidirectional interaction across segments or domains. This problem is particularly harmful in the context of multipoint-to-multipoint feedback protocols, in which the total number of interactions scales as the square of the number of nodes involved.
Moreover, when the processing power of the end points is limited by technical constraints (e.g. battery life) or voluntarily (e.g. compliance with voluntary energy efficiency standards), high bit-rate communication via a relay may become impossible.